Meeting Abstract

1.10  Jan. 4  Multidata phylogeny of the Western Atlantic Lysmata SCHIZAS, Nikolaos*; RHYNE, Andrew; FIEDLER, Curt; University of Puerto Rico Mayag�ez; Florida Institute of Technology; University of Maryland, University College Asia n_schizas@cima.uprm.edu

Prior to recent revisions, only ten species of Lysmata were thought to occur in the Atlantic Ocean. From these ten species, six were known from the western Atlantic: L. grabhami, L. intermedia, L. moorei, L. anchisteus, L. rathbunae, and L. wurdemanni. In the western Atlantic, five more species have been recently added bringing the total to eleven. There is a need to decipher the phylogeny of this group in light of the rare reproductive mode in decapods, protandric simultaneous hermaphrodism, and their commercial importance in the marine reef aquarium industry. A powerful approach in assessing the relationships of species is a complete molecular phylogeny based on several genes, in conjunction with morphological and morphometric measurements of larvae and adults. Similar phylogenetic relationships of the western Atlantic Lysmata are supported by mitochondrial and nuclear genes, and morphological analysis of adult and larval characters. The data indicate further divisions within the genus.